Wednesday, March 9, 2016

The Hype Machine: NARS Audacious Lipsticks

The Hype Machine is a series that takes a critical look at
well-loved, cult classic, appears-in-every-other-Instagram-photo
products and asks: are they worth the hype?

Sometimes--probably in more instances than I'd like to admit--I can be a makeup hipster. I wouldn't say that I write a product off as soon as it becomes the raved-about community wunderkind, but I'm definitely suspicious and curious at the same time. I actually imagine myself circling around hyped-up products like my cat when the furnace kicks on: on the one hand, WTF even is that noise?!, but on the other hand, oooooh waaaarm.

So it took me a while to get a NARS Audacious lipstick and test it out. My first shade was Michiyo, a bright blue-based pink. As noted in The Lipstick Diaries, I really liked this shade on my skintone and I thought the formula was nice. But I'd yet to be totally wowed, especially with the $32 price tag. When the Sephora VIB 20% off sale rolled around and I noticed I was still short a dark, blue-based red lipstick, I decided to give NARS Charlotte a try.

That, my friends, is where the love affair began.

Natural light on top, flash on the bottom; from left to right: Charlotte, Anna, Michiyo.

Charlotte almost got me hooked on this range. Yes, it was a hair drying like Michiyo before it, but neither was horrendously parching, and both shades were saturated, wore evenly, and garnered boatloads of compliments. I noticed that these lipsticks were better than many of their counterparts in my collection--they wear more evenly than MAC satins and are less heavy than the Hourglass Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipsticks, for instance.

I fell in love with the packaging as well. To some extent, it's typical NARS: sleek and black with the logo embossed on the case. But NARS is infamous for using rubberized black packaging, which gathers fingerprints and dirt like crazy. The Audacious tubes are matte and smooth, making them easy to clean. They're also magnetic so the lid snaps on tightly.

From left to right: Michiyo, Charlotte, Anna.

Now, I said that Charlotte almost got me hooked on the range. Anna was a bit of a wake-up call for me. It seems like a perfect cool pink in most bloggers' photos, so I was suckered in to buying a tube of it. But on my fair skin, this stuff turns straight purple. It's not a bad shade--my mom actually loves it on me--but it's not the color I thought I'd get. In fact, while the Audacious color range is expansive, I find that the "softer" shades run a hair dark for my liking. As such, there's no truly flattering nude pink or beige shade for me here.

Do I think this is the end-all be-all of lipsticks? Probably not, especially if you dislike anything even remotely drying or already have a pigmented satin lipstick range you love. Is $32 a little steep? Definitely. But if you can find a few shades that really speak to you and flatter your complexion, it may be worth the splurge for such a beautiful-looking formula. Just resist the urge to replace every single lipstick in your collection with an Audacious counterpart. I almost fell down that rabbit hole myself.

Almost.

BOTTOM LINE: The NARS Audacious lipsticks aren't the kindest to super dry lips, nor are they the cheapest lipstick you can get. But the color range is phenomenal, and the formula definitely reeks of quality. Save your pennies for a few signature shades.

The Hype Machine is a series that
represents my experiences and opinions. It is not meant to be a personal
attack on a specific company, product, or consumer. I always recommend
that you try products for yourself and see how they work for you.
Everybody is unique, after all!

12 comments:

Michiyo is an amazing pink for you! I'm still semi-heartbroken that Angela is so drying on me. It's one of my favorite colors in my lipstick collection, so I can't imagine destashing it. But I can wear it only when my lips are in near-perfect condition, and even then it usually makes them peel after a day of wearing. I say "semi-heartbroken" because this means I'll never spend $32 on another Audacious lipstick, which is a significant upside!

The only NARS semi-matte lipstick I've tried is 413 BLKR, so I'm not sure if it's representative of the entire line, but I really do like it! It's almost matte without being drying. I also love the NARS sheer lipsticks.

Renee, I have N5-10 skin with similar undertones to yours, and Anita was the first audacious shade I picked up; I thought I'd go with a MLBB that I would be likely to wear often, since the price is so steep. Sadly, Anita shows up as a fairly deep mauvey-brown against my complexion. It's sort of pretty, but - like your experience with Anna - not what I was looking for. I do really adore the formula, but I'm staying the hell away from the "nudes" from now on. (Weirdly, I subsequently picked up Dominique. What the hell, past Celia. I KNOW that greyed-out "statement" lips look dark and muddy against my fair skin. Next time I venture into this line, I'm going to learn from my mistakes and go for a bright a la Natalie or Lana.)

You know, I will say this: not a lot of brands create nude shades that will look beautiful on darker skin. Not so with this NARS range. Shades like Anna look truly gorgeous on medium to dark skintones (Temptalia's swatch suckered me in), so I'm glad for that. I just think I, personally, will not find a good nude or soft pink in this range. Thanks for re-affirming that!

Anna does the exactly same thing to me - lovely swatched on my hand, very deep purple on my lips. I'm super pale. Anita is a much better everyday shade on me but a tad drying. I've found a lovely budget alternative to Nars Audacious - Kiko lipsticks.

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